April 12, 2022

CELTIC BANK Celtic Bank Joins the Utah LGBTQ+ Chamber in Presenting a “Utah Small Business Micro-funding Panel”Over the past several years, Celtic Bank has been working with local Chambers of Commerce, the Suazo Business Center and the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute at the University of Utah to develop micro and pathway loan programs. These programs address […]

Bank of Utah Peter Lee has been hired as a Mortgage Loan Officer in the Brigham City, Tremonton, and Ogden offices, bringing more than 20 years of experience helping customers purchase and refinance loans. Laura Mitchell has been promoted to Branch Manager at Bank of Utah’s Redwood Road location in Salt Lake City. Mitchell previously worked at

For decades, courts have held that, with some limited exceptions, the Bankruptcy Code protects only the debtor in bankruptcy and not third parties related to or connected with the debtor. For example, the automatic stay under 11 U.S.C. § 362(a) generally applies to acts involving the debtor, property of the debtor, or property of the debtor’s bankruptcy estate. The automatic stay does not stay actions against related third-party non-debtors, such as guarantors or sureties or their separate property.i Likewise, section 524(e) of the Bankruptcy Code provides that the “discharge of a debt of the debtor does not affect the liability of any entity on, or the property of any other entity for, such debt.”

The Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines (FHLB Des Moines) recently appointed Renee Stevens, Juel Burnette and Kevin Bryant to serve three-year terms on its Affordable Housing Advisory Council and reappointed Michael Akerlow and Robert Peterson.

Regulators and lawmakers consistently point to cybersecurity as one of the biggest threats facing the banking, or any other industry, for that matter. The UBA brought together a stellar lineup of speakers from IT, security, legal and law enforcement for a virtual IT & Cybersecurity Conference to provide bankers with insights into the current landscape and strategies to mitigate risk.

A group of Utah bankers went to Washington, D.C. in early March to attend the ABA Washington Summit and to meet with the Utah Congressional Delegation.

Public and regulatory expectations regarding climate change and other environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues are rapidly changing. The largest banks have made climate commitments, pledging hundreds of billions of dollars to sustainable finance. While the larger financial institutions have adopted ESG reporting and practices, this is expected to apply to community financial institutions in the coming years, as regulation trickles down to smaller institutions. Due to the speed of change of these expectations, executives and boards in community financial institutions can no longer take a “wait and see” approach and should invest in learning and applying ESG factors in their institution.

More than 60 Utah bankers converged on the State Capitol on February 24, braving a frigid and snowy Salt Lake City morning to participate in the political process. With little more than a week remaining in an active 2022 General Session of the Utah State Legislature, it was a key opportunity for attendees to meet with legislators about critical industry issues.

Following a virtual meeting in 2021, Ag bankers from around the state came together in person for the 2022 Ag Outlook & Conference, February 10-11 at the Dixie Convention Center in St. George, Utah. The two-day conference — in partnership with the College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences at Utah State University — featured a diverse list of speakers and topics, including economic and weather forecasts, new tools and technologies, and reminders to stay diligent with advocacy efforts.

What do bananas and baking soda have to do with bank marketing? I thought you would never ask. Let’s start with the bananas.

We can all recite numerous methods of self-improvement. You eat right and exercise to get fit; you lift weights to gain physical strength, or play games and learn a new language to improve your brain. But what can you do to grow in your career?

At the end of May, the government’s Paycheck Protection Program is scheduled to come to a close. If Congress does not extend the program, we can expect the “Monday morning quarterbacking” about the impact of the program on the economy, its design and implementation, and its ultimate cost to begin. Those are appropriate questions to ask as we consider the lessons learned from the nation’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

What happens when everything in society becomes political? I really don’t want to find out. The political pendulum is swinging higher and faster than ever. Sincere communication and debate are non-existent. Learning is considered a weakness. Reality is twisted to support any number of preferred narratives, which are then used as justification to push the reactive political pendulum higher in the opposite direction.